UMass falls 3-2 to Northeastern in overtime and is out of the Hockey East playoffs

BOSTON - It was a tough defeat to swallow, but as their coach said, the University of Massachusetts rolled up their sleeves, and emptied the buckets all weekend.

After tying the game with only 34.8 seconds left in regulation, the Minutemen fell 3-2 to Northeastern in overtime when Alex Tuckerman circled the net and lifted a shot that deflected off a defenseman's stick past goaltender Paul Dainton for the winner.

The Huskies (25-1-4) won the quarterfinal series 2-1 to advance to the Hockey East semifinals, while the Minutemen's season ended at 16-20-3.

"Obviously, it was a tough one for us, it was playoff hockey at its very best, UMass coach Toot Cahoon said. "There was great goaltending at both ends, all sorts of scoring chances, the excitement at the end when we tied the game after pulling the goalie.

"And then an unfortunate play in the offensive zone creates the rush. Tuckerman had a great weekend scoring lots of goals, big goals for them. The stars lined up for that kid. He made a nice shot, but it ended up deflecting off my defenseman's stick to go upper shelf."

Cahoon said that Northeastern has had a great season, and found ways to win games like this.

UMass defenseman Matt Irwin, who had a shot blocked that led to a goal that gave Northeastern a 2-1 lead, scored with a drive from inside the blue line to force overtime.

The Minutemen, who had taken a timeout with 1:14 left, were playing with an empty net and the extra attacker when Irwin scored.

Seconds earlier, Northeastern's Chris Donovan was about to put the puck in the empty cage from the top of the faceoff circle in the UMass zone when James Marcou stripped the puck off his stick, and sent the play the other way.

UMass had led 1-0 with a power-play goal in the first period, but fell behind 2-1 in the second when the Huskies connected twice in a span of 38 seconds.

The Minutemen played their best hockey of the night in the third period, outshooting the Huskies 12-6.

"We played our heart out all weekend, you can't say we didn't give it our best effort," UMass senior Cory Quirk said.

For the third straight night, the teams battled through a well-played, scoreless first period.

In a big improvement over Saturday night, the Minutemen cut down on the first-period penalties. The only UMass minor was assessed to Scott Crowder for elbowing.

There were a number of close calls for Northeastern, which held a 13-9 shot advantage. Off the rush over the line, the Huskies frequently use the play where the carrier of the puck makes a quick drop pass to a winger for a one-timer. Such was the case with 6:15 remaining in the period when Dennis McCauley let go a blast from the left side. Dainton was able to make the stop, but the puck squirted loose to the left with the Minutemen benefiting from a quick whistle.

In the second period, the Minutemen opened the scoring with a two-man advantage. Irwin took a shot that was stopped, and Marcou flipped a rebound that went off the skate of Northeastern defenseman Denis Chisholm and into the net at 2:06.

But after scoring its goal, UMass played poorly during the next five minutes and ended up taking a pair of penalties while scrambling in its own end.

Defenseman John Wessbecker went off for interference at 5:56, but the Minutemen got a break when NU defenseman David Strathman rang a shot off the post.

The teams weren't back at even strength for even two minutes before Quirk was called for hitting from behind at 9:15. This time UMass was not as fortunate with Tuckerman turning in the right circle for a quick shot to beat Dainton at 10:51, That tied it at 1-1, and 38 seconds later the Minutemen were behind.

Irwin, skating on the left side at the Huskies blue line, took a shot that was blocked. Irwin fell down, and the result was a 3-on-1 break that ended with Ryan Ginand coming in alone for the tie-breaker at 11:29.

UMass went on the power play at 15:58 with Alex Berry getting a good chance from the slot, but Northeastern goaltender Brad Thiessen got his pads on it.